Turnbull caves in, declares support for new “clean coal” generator

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull appears to have caved in to the fossil fuel lobby and the right wing of his Coalition after announcing that he would look at the need to replace coal-fired power stations with “continuous power sources” such as new coal, or gas.

The announcement, along with the repeal of the limited merits review for network owners, and moves to restrict exports to guarantee local gas supply, was made by Turnbull as he sought to deal with a mini-uprising from the right wing of his party following the release of the Finkel Review on energy security.

The mining lobby, led by the Minerals Council of Australia, has been pushing to replace the output of the closed Hazelwood power station with a “technology neutral” auction of “continuous power” – but the clear hope and assumption was the ability to build a new “clean coal” power station.